01/26/2015

Yuneec Q500 - The $1299 new kid on the block rocks it. *mostly

Last year Yuneec Eletric Aviation teased us with a sweet little video quad and a pro-level 900 size video platform. Ive been blogging about multirotors for the last year or so, and have already learned that about 80% of the teased copters turn out to be nothing more than.. well hot rumors.

So. what about the new Yuneec q500? its very real, and its flies great, Click through for the skinny on the new Yuneec copter when Bo review the Q500.

NOTE This review is more than one year old. PLEASE realize there are many new quads on the market by now. Also realize some of the cutting edge features of this quad is obviously no longer super-cool..You most likely can find this quad at much better prices than what was available when the review was written.

EDIT: NEW revised q500 with improved camera that record sound is on the way, the Typhoon+ come with the new 1080p camera with microphone and also the cool metal transport case. *** I really love the case, Ryan had one in his trunk the other day, but I figured its polite not to take pictures of his trunk of awesomeness stuff.Preorder now available several at CarolinaDronz check em out.

So what do we get for $1300? A surprisingly competent ready to fly video system with GPS support and Follow-Me mode, even a memorycard for the camera.

Its clear Yuneec feel the pressure getting into the flying camcorder market. and they are tossing a solid card on the table with the Q500, for a fairly reasonable price of $1300 they provide everything required to start shooting video, INCLUDING 6 month warrenty which is unheard of in the industry. really, you can start the shoot as soon as you finish charging the first battery.

The Yuneec Q500 looks different the moment you pull it out of the box, sporting a long slender body and two large T shaped arms with support struts, the main body and nose looks like the nose of a glider airplane, the arms for the motors are a bit rough compared, but they work well and when you try to twist them, its obvious that they are plenty rigid for the job. getting rid of vibrations is a big job, and was one of the early down-falls of Walkera's TALI h500 which had flexible arms that would rotate enough to disconnect the cables to the ESC's and cause instant crashes. looks like Yuneec did not want to repeat that experience.

They have also use the long body to move the battery way back to act as balance for the camera pod in the front, this works well and prevent the camera from seeing the propellers when flying. compare to the Phantom's belly mounted camera which have made aerials with props almost ikonic for the age. the long body is a smart move.

DJI and Walkera have both adapted smart-batteries with build in power monitoring, much like my laptop, press a button and you can see the number lights indicating remaining power. Surprisingly, Yuneec have avoided this design, BUT they have managed to break new ground none the less, the batteries for the Q500 are long sleek utilitarian jobs, with a carry / pull handle on the end, and most importantly NO cables at all. all connections are on the end, two large plugs for power and a smaller balance plug. *this is impotant because there are no cables to frey and none for my dog to chew on.

The Charge come with a short balance extention cable. which connect the charger to the balance plug on the battery. Im actually quite happy with the charger, its not particualrly fast and take about 90 minutes to charge a empty battery, however its got some redeming features, they used a big cool automotive fuse on top of the charger, so if you blow a fuse on the road.. you can get one at the nearest service station.. thats cool.. but as far as Im concerned, the coolest feature is the cigarette lighter plug for the charger, I think Yuneec is the first company to include a car-charger option with their copter. WAY to go Yuneec, finally somebody recognize that we tend to charge our batteries on the go and in the car. Im happy.I would like to know what the batteries cost. but have not found cost anywhere yet.

DJI pionered the RTF flying camcorder category with the Phantom Vision, this is not a new category, but its a category a lot of quads like to get into. The Phantom Vision 2 is the benchmark to beat and at $1200 street price, the P2v+ is not giving up the crown easiely.

The ST10 "smart controller" Lets revisit the controller for a moment.. this white radio looks deceptively like the average controller with a build in screen. but don't let it fool you. the ST10 radio is NOTHING like other 10-channel RC hobby radios. (at least not radios I have tried so far, and I have tried a LOT of radios) So what so differently here? one word "android-tablet" (ok two words)

Sleek, and compact, with good grips on the backside, the ST10 is more comfortable than you expect.

Once you start flying the Q500 you will quickly notice the sticks are a bit mushy (compared to direct fly mini-quads). and after a bit of flying it become clear whats going on, the screen is actually flying the q500, it basically feels the q500 is flying in "tablet mode" and the sticks and switches on the radio, can best be described as USB input devices for the tablet. Remember how the arDrone works, the iphone have two virtual sticks on the screen, that is essentially how you are flying the Yuneec Q500.*** While I feel and kinda think the Q500 is flown through the tablet, lets be real, the ST10 is advertised as a 10ch radio, I find it difficult to believe Yuneec would be flying through the android tablet with the potential for crashes. SO this most be stick flying, but with a bit padding form the flight controller. not sure how the live Follow-Me mode works in the smart mode. obviously the thing is somebody applying knowledge of the location of the radio to the live flying of the aircraft. mostly because of the live-follow-me experience, Im still inclined to think the tablet have some weight in the flight experience.Maybe somebody from Yuneec can educate me?

Another sign of the tablet being in-charge by default is the standard "smart mode' is born with native "Follow-Me" mode. when flying in smart mode, stop flying let it hang there and start walking, and the quad will follow you at the angle / height you left it at. Because smart-mode simply is follow mode with IOC (Intelligent orientation control). how cool is that.? *** If your Q500 don't follow you in smart mode, you need to download the firmware update for the radio.

The GO02GB camera+Gimbal kit The camera might be the biggest enigma of the q500, its sold as a 12 megapix still / 1080p video camera with 3 frame-rates 48/50/60fps, a 130deg lens and automatic color balance. The camera is build into a 0.02 deg stabilized brushless gimbal. for those not in the know. 0.02 deg is seriously stable.!In the air, the camera / gimbal delivers with ROCK SOLID stable video. to the point that I am tempted to call the video "impossible stable"

How stable? The native raw video from the Q500 is the most stable I have ever seen from a RTF quad, particularly at this pricepoint. honestly its so stable that it seems almost un-natural. So I started investigating a bit.

|Hint: even in california the clouds are not THAT golden. But we can fix this in post. so its not fatal.

Digging into the camera. The first thing you notice is the overly rich colors, Im dismissing those hoping they will soon fix that with a firmware update. (besides a simple curve can fix the colors in post as well)

The second thing, the camera seems a bit "fuzzy" just enough that its not crisply sharp. so I scaled the video UP to 400% and played it back alongside a identical shot from my GoPro 4silver set to 1080p medium FPV. BINGO. instantly you notice the jagged lines on the diagonal branches in the shot.. turns out the video is actually rezzed-up 720p video. Thats a bit disappointing at first. Before you loose too much sleep over the camera, lets really quickly remember, the camera is less than 1080p, however its also "impossible stable" Im guessing they are stabilizing the video live in the camera, and thats probably the real reason we get less than 1080 resolving power. take a look at the crane shot here and also the pan. this is solid video.

What the story with the Blade 350AP quad having the same camera, BUT while the Blade is a 16 megapixel camera, the Yuneec Q500 camera is rated at 12 megapixel. I asked the good people at Yuneec, and were told that they made a choice to crop the still image a bit to avoid vignetting at the corner of the image.

YES it travels well. The stock Yuneec q500 case fit in most overhead luggage bins. The case is included with the Yuneec Q500+ kit and also with the q500 4K kit.** Picture kindly provided by Custer Aranas

CAMERA UPDATEWe have been wondering why the video from the camera is a bit unpredictable, so today I cracked it open to take a look at the antenna, well dang, turns out there is a circular polarizer antenna, but mounted sideways, so basically you only get solid video to the SIDES of the quad, some bonehead designed that, pop off the black cover over the lens part.. and pull down the antenna, it should be pointing down to the ground. Done.. now you have MUCH more solid video connection. how is that for a cheap fix?The correct position for the 5.8ghz antenna, this will hugely improve the video stability.**** Before you start modding your Yuneec, the antenna have issues ether way, if you "drop" it, like I did, it turns out that then you can loose video doing a straight up climb (crane shot), because the antenna offer little video signal on its center when pointed down. however I flew this out to about 1500 feet horizontal distance without any breakup of the video. Just keep in mind, for close distances in the city, the original position is probably pretty good.

Another look at the Yuneec camera. on top you can see the IMU, Below it is the 1080p board-camera, behind the camera is the live video stabilizing unit and the DVR.

One more mod, after a couple weeks of flying, my gimbal developed a buzzing sound in the yaw axis. I called Yuneec Support (those guys are incredible great), and they told me the balancer on the back of the gimbal can be turned to screw in in or out to tune the gimbal. I did that, but could not entirely get rid of the buzzing, so I stuck a quarter on there with some double-side tape. buzzing gone.Im pretty sure a smaller coin would have done the trick, and you can do a nicer install by cutting the tape nicer.

Conclusion - how do it fly and is it worth $1300? The Yuneec Q500 mostly do what it advertises. the quad is the easiest to fly "Out of Box" experience I have tried so far. more importantly, it manages to deliver solid video flying behavior, smooth and stable, without the user having to learn to fly for video, with the "turtle-rabbit" dial, you can easily set the amount of speed you are comfortable with. The camera deliver incredible stable video, a bit rich colors, and less resolution than promised, this would (maybe) be a issue if you are working on a documentary, but I suspect the ease of getting this video might out-weight the resolution issues, particularly for aerial video that don't show a lot of details on the ground. if you are a consumer or real-estate user, its a no-brainer, the video looks awesome and its incredible easy capture solid video with the Q500. We can not forget the package contents two batteries + the 6 months warranty. Overall, the Q500 are more than the sum of the parts, its a simple easy manageable way for most people to get reasonable good incredible stable video, without having to pick up a lot of flight skils. For that reason, I will call the Q500 "RECOMMENDED" with the reservation that the camera is going to be disappointing for professional users.

Comments

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Bo:

I have had at this point all the varying models of the Q-500. My first ones were sent back and replaced with the Q-500+ models because of the original camera issues however they flew really great. For what ever reason the original models flew better than my later plus's that had the better & newer cameras on them. The moral of this story may be (smile) if you have a great Flyer don't get rid of the Air frame change the camera instead Darn it, Lol !..Double D

good morning
I know what are the messages that give the blue LED located below the engine (in esc) and how you can change the way they blink?
my typhoon has one of the two blue LED engine right front that flashes 5 times per second while the other 3 engines do not.
can you give me some advice to solve this anomaly?
when I try to run the engine without propeller engines at some point begin to vibrate excessively so until they turn off by remote control .......
help meeee
thanks greetings Carlo.

hi guys anyone tryed to turn it on and spin the motors inside, with out the props i tried and can get it to start. just took it out of the box. help all is charged want to just turn it on with out props to learn all controls before going out. have not tried ti outside.

@Lance J. Danks Yeah I hear you, this is becoming really annoying, however, I know Walkera also is having problems getting the 4K cameras, Im sure this will eventually be history and we will be flying 4K cameras.. (i will probably be saving the file as 1080p)

All this talk about the new and improved 4k camera, so where is it?? Last I heard late April early May 2015. Maybe they mean 2016...The Phantom 3 and Inspire 1 are looking better all the time...BTW THE PHANTOM 3 is due to be released May 15. At least dji is willing to put their release date out there...

Hey Dread InNY, Im "guessing" that the q500 4K may compare pretty nicely with the P3, however I have not actually flown it yet. As soon as I get hands on one, I will be doing a evaluation, I will be comparing it against the GoPro4, to see how dynamic range stacks up and how details render.
We both completely agree on the current q500 video quality. its not production grade by any stretch of imagination.

I am curious how the 4K version stakes up against the DJI 4K. I am filming a documentary and need a camera for aerial slow motion shots. Please give opinions/data. I am NOT like the digital jaggies on this version.

@Bo - So the 500+ is still not a true 1080p camera? I have not found any reviews on it but I like the fact that it had no fisheye, but I do not like the exaggerated look of the gopro. Are you saying that you cannot control the ISO and shutter speed of 500+ camera? I am a professional photographer, have a Nikon D800, but am not a videographer. I am more interested in the video quality instead of the stills for the drone\uav I get. I actually pre-ordered the 500+ from Adorama(it is on backorder) and have been having second thoughts lately. I say the DJI Professional and it looks nice but am worried about the tech support of that company. I have been following the drama on the Yuneeq rcgroups forum thread and it looks like there is no release date for the Yineeq 4k, at least from what I have seen.

@Owen Heuston I would absolutely get the 4K camera, mostly because its got ISO, shutter speed, and white-balance.
You can always select 1080p video format, and simply use it to capture 1080p video.
the camera on the q500+ is essentially the exact same as the original one, just with better colors and less fisheye. however its still a fairly low-resolution camera and not a true 1080p. because of that I would absolutely get the 4K camera even if I wanted to record 1080p files.

WOW.. that is a good question.
1. YES the q500 series is without a doubt one of the easiest quads to fly. Yuneec managed to get the right blend of settings and this thing is easier to fly than my inspire-1
2. is a little harder. generally I routinely buy used quads. however it really depend how its been treated, kind like buying a muscle car from a teenager.. its hard making me believe he have driven it like grandma.

I read your review and the comments here. I have never owned a quadcopter but have been doing months of research. I made the mistake of going in on the Plexidrone and got out of that. My question is, for someone who is not a professional videographer, is the Q500 worth a look? Also what are the dangers of buying one of these used?

Hi,great info I have flown my q500 in some nasty conditions and it has shot very stable clear video and stills.I own a line locating survey company and we have been testing the q500,phantom vision 2 and my aspire1.So far here's what we have found.q500 is the best buck for your dollar ,it's vid is super stable and clear compared to the phantom 2,it handles better in wind or gusts and much easier to see when your shooting large gas plants or pipeline ROWs it can also land on uneven ground safely due to the stable leg stance phantom is top heavy and legs are straight up and down.The phantom is more portable and self tightening blades are great plus their tough,q500 are a little to brittle,but we did notice the q500 is much quieter when taking off and flying full throttle.But the best part about the Q500 is Yuneecs service I needed a new motor and called their tech support they (Ryan ) said no problem sending me one no charge!!!Now that's how you run a business.So I mentioned I had a Aspire 1 yes great machine but it had some issues on 4th flight lost total control was able to land it after clipping tree branch Anyhow I called on hold for 20 min hung up,called my dealer,since I only had for 7 days long story short dealers can't do any repairs it has to go back to LA so It cost me $220+ to send 1way with insurance and they can't get at it for 5 to six weeks just for a motor .so it looks right now that if you need anything for an aspire besides a battery or props your hopped!if I would have known this I wouldn't have bought it and now that Q500 is coming out with a 4k and some other new goodies I'm sold,I will definitely by more of them.

Hey Walter, congratulations with the new Q500, its a awesome video copter.
WOW. that is actually a better question than you may realize :-)
Yuneec is close friends and OEM for a lot of the HorizonHobby gear, you can probably see where Im going with this... as a result you can fly the q500 with a 10ch or better Spectrum radio.. I would guess you can also fly a mini-quad with a spectrum RX using the ST-10, however since the ST10 is such a dedicated radio, I would suggest getting a inexpensive radio for your mini-quad.